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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713918">Blackbird</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnkindledQueen/pseuds/TheUnkindledQueen'>TheUnkindledQueen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cal Kestis Needs a Hug, Everybody needs a hug here, Force Ghost(s), Nightmare Fuel, Trilla Suduri | Second Sister Needs a Hug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:22:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713918</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnkindledQueen/pseuds/TheUnkindledQueen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Years later, the Empire has fallen. Cal Kestis returns to the Fortress where Trilla had died to fulfill a promise he made. But she never really passed on.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blackbird</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>"For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one."<br/>- Kahlil Gibran</p><p>"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset."<br/>- Saint Francis de Sales</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~O~</p><p>[<i>Fortress Inquisitorius</i>]</p><p>There was a chill there.</p><p>It made his bones ache.</p><p>His eyes were tired, but BD-1 was still there with him, to help guide him through the ruins of the old Imperial hell. The smell of wet, rotted metal, plants and dead sea life were all around him.</p><p>A chirp from the little droid.</p><p>Cal felt himself smiling. "Thanks, BD..."</p><p>It was a comforting sound and one that helped, really. Even when he was old and exhausted from years of fighting and hardened with resolve; he was shaken when he returned to this place. But he had to come back.</p><p>She was still here.</p><p>Cal could feel the energy of it - it was twisted and gnarled, filled with terror and rage. He'd always known that those wielding the Force lingered in bad places. He'd even seen it; they were always angry, hurt and terrified.</p><p>And her energy was strong. Stronger than anything he'd felt.</p><p>His cloak felt heavy; he pulled one of the clasps, tugging the fabric higher. It had given him some form of comfort.</p><p>Cal decided to take a seat on an old, broken crate; it creaked beneath his weight. The sound felt louder here.</p><p>It was surprisingly easy to create a fire for warmth from a small torch in his bag. He watched the fire in silence, listening to the crackle of it. He held his hands together in his robes, rubbing them together.</p><p>"Hmm..." he murmured, "It's nice, ain't it?"</p><p>BD-1 watched him, giving a few inquisitive chirps and beeps. Cal laughed gently and raised one hand, letting the droid hop onto his leg. He pet him a few times on the head.</p><p>"I'm fine, BD." he said. "Just need to sit down for a bit."</p><p>He saw his reflection in a pool next to him; his hair had greyed and the bangs fallen over his eyes reminded him too much of Malicos. Even a thin beard had formed that he hadn't tended to. He'd been traveling for a while.</p><p>But his eyes had changed the most; hardened, yet filled with sadness. He'd seen too much.</p><p>Metal groaned around him.</p><p>Cal looked up sharply and cast his gaze down a long, rotten corridor.</p><p>That wasn't metal.</p><p>Cal knew. He felt the air grow colder with her sorrow and her rage. He felt his heart freeze at the groans that followed.</p><p>He had to do this. He had to see her.</p><p>"Let's go, BD..." he said, quietly.</p><p>The droid was frightened, but took a perch on his shoulder when he rose and ventured on. A few unsettled beeps, chirps and clicks.</p><p>"It's you, isn't it? It's been a long time..."</p><p>Trilla's voice. Cal froze at the sound of it, catching the cold, hollow tone that had changed since he'd spoken to her when she was alive; it was darker and came with jagged, sharp headaches. Flashes of memories filled his head. Static in the Force that carried powerful rage.</p><p>He was trembling somewhat, but held his resolve as he searched for the ghostly woman.</p><p>Cal walked down the corridors, making his way through the cracked door ahead of him that led into a room filled with offices. The electricity had since died here, but there was something truly ominous about how empty they looked; each room had since been overgrown with vegetation. Even smaller animals had returned to claim it.</p><p>BD-1 little body shivered and Cal reached up to comfort the droid. "It's okay. We're fine."</p><p>They stepped into an administration office and immediately, every blackened, cracked screen lit up. Cal blinked, stunned to see energy charging through it, projecting flashes of security feed of the prisoners who had been brought to the Fortress.</p><p>Static, eerie, synthetic groans.</p><p>Angry snarls.</p><p>"You're much older now, aren't you? Time has eroded your sense of self-righteousness. I see it..." Trilla's voice came from the screen, whispering with macabre glee. "You can pretend as much as you'd like, but being here after all these years rattles you, doesn't it?"</p><p>She was here too long, Cal knew that much. Her spirit had petrified in this place and left her with the last emotions she'd ever felt before her death. They had grown stronger, creating shadows and images that lingered everywhere he went.</p><p>And she had been alone.</p><p>He promised Cere that he would help her. She knew that Trilla's soul still remained in this terrible place - only the most powerful did if they'd died in such a way. She had asked him to see her again and help her find peace. Cal had made a promise and he intended to follow through with it.</p><p>And a part of him had been haunted by it; Darth Vader killing Trilla and he unable to stop it. He didn't even look back.</p><p>He wandered further into the Fortress, stopping in front of an old map posted on the wall.</p><p>He was going to the interrogation chamber.</p><p>A flash of static filled his head and he saw an image there of the Fortress filled with people - going about their duties without a care in the world. They had no idea what went on below them; the Empire hid it well from most of their staff, it seemed.</p><p>The image was gone and the hall was rotten once more.</p><p>Haunting whispers. Echoes of the past.</p><p>Cal was afraid.</p><p>O</p><p>BD-1 chirped.</p><p>Cal made his way deeper into the Fortress, seeking the place below. The screens flashed on once more and static filled his head.</p><p>"Why did you come looking for me if you knew I was dead, Cal Kestis? Did you think I would forgive you?" Trilla's voice whispered with hate somewhere around him.</p><p>Cal closed his eyes, wincing at the static. It hurt, stabbing into his head like several knives at once.</p><p>"No." he said, softly. "I know you won't."</p><p>He stepped into a train station and saw an Echo of dead lying around him. It came and went like lightning and Trilla's voice was back.</p><p>"He came for them, next, tearing them apart. They failed him in some way, I'm sure." She tittered somewhat; a broken, hollow note. "Because of you and Cere. This is your fault."</p><p>Cal shook his head, ignoring that cold remark as he stepped onto the track, peering into the shadows. He reached at his side, taking his lightsaber and activating it. Raising it over his head, he started walking down the tunnel that would take him below.</p><p>BD-1 was sitting close to him, perched on his shoulders.</p><p>"I used to be strong, huh?" Cal said, quietly. "Now I'm not sure."</p><p>A click from the little droid. Reassuring.</p><p>Cal smiled sadly. "Yeah, maybe I'm just getting old."</p><p>The doors were there, and Cal hesitated only once. Going through them meant he'd return to the place he'd fought her. He would be there among the cells where Jedi Padawan's had been taken. He was stronger and would see deeper horrors than he'd seen before.</p><p>But it had to be done. He had to go.</p><p>"BD?" he said, quietly.</p><p>The droid clicked an inquiry.</p><p>"Thanks for staying with me."</p><p>And with that, he went through the doors.</p><p>O</p><p>Cal wandered into the holding cells. He remembered when he'd fought countless stormtroopers here; the holes from blaster fire still remained in the walls and he stared at them for a brief moment. Cere had been there with him. She'd fought them and her own fear. He could do the same.</p><p>He stopped in front of a cell that had been overgrown like the rest. Trilla's voice was there again.</p><p>"He made me bury them when they died," she whispered, "Some of them were too young to go on. It was a punishment. One of many to come. Some of the Jedi couldn't handle it. Even the oldest and strongest succumbed before I did. It happened in their cells and they took their own lives. I suppose it did make things quieter."</p><p>Quieter.</p><p>Cal didn't want to look.</p><p>But the Echo's came anyway and he saw the dead around him. He heard their whispers, their last moments. He saw them as they suffered; it was horrible and their cries for mercy fell on deaf ears.</p><p>No one was there for them.</p><p>He stopped when he saw a shadow kneeling in the dark.</p><p>A set of glowing golden eyes.</p><p>"Trilla?" he said, quietly.</p><p>"How did you do it for so long, Cal Kestis?" she hissed, synthetic tone bringing that agonizing static. "How did you just look away?"</p><p>Cal winced and shook his head, holding his temples with one hand.</p><p>Trilla - or what he thought was her - had vanished.</p><p>BD-1 jumped from Cal's shoulder, making his way toward another door that had been split down the middle, leaving enough room for someone to fit through. Cal looked at the droid before approaching, watching as he scanned the area.</p><p>"What's wrong?" Cal asked. "Something in there?"</p><p>BD-1 looked up at him, body twitching an affirmative. Cal sighed, but nodded and climbed through the door. BD-1 followed through and jumped to Cal's shoulder. They found themselves in a room filled with security towers.</p><p>"This is were they keep their security logs," Cal said, "What's so important here? Looks like all of it was destroyed."</p><p>BD-1 let out a few boops in response. Cal nodded once and approached one of the towers, hesitantly reaching for it. He eventually felt the remnants of an Echo and his mind drifted to the place where Trilla had fallen.</p><p>He saw her rising where Vader had struck her down. She had attempted to crawl away before he drove his lightsaber through her chest.</p><p>He had called her a fool. And she had laid there, dying slowly. Alone.</p><p>Her emotions had lingered.</p><p>Stinging rage.</p><p>Agonizing loneliness.</p><p>It had all festered and been left to rot away, leaving her a living embodiment of anguish and hate. And who would blame her?</p><p>"She was still alive..." Cal whispered, eyes widening in horror.</p><p>"Yes..." Trilla hissed, the screens around them brightening with light and static. "You watched me fall. But you did nothing to stop him. It was as if you wanted him to kill me. Until the guilt started oozing in. I'll be waiting for you, Cal Kestis. Come find me."</p><p>It was quiet in the room again.</p><p>Cal sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. The lightsaber in his hand felt heavier.</p><p>"Cere..." he murmured. "Give me strength."</p><p>O</p><p>His steps felt heavier as he drew closer to the torture chamber. The energy here was strongest and the dead whispered louder. But it was Trilla's voice that was strongest.</p><p>"You never came back for my body..." Trilla whispered in his head. "And I never received a proper burial. I was burned with the rest of them. Just like the trash. I meant nothing to you."</p><p>Cal ignored her. He had to.</p><p>He was closer to the door now. BD-1 was shivering against his shoulders.</p><p>"Here's the torture chamber, where I spent the last hours of my life," Trilla continued, "Hurt, alone... Well? Come on in, Cal Kestis. Don't be shy."</p><p>He reached out one hand, ignoring the trilling mockery in her voice. As soon as the door opened, he felt the pull of the Force throwing him into the torture chamber.</p><p>He was sent tumbling across the floor before a heel was in his chest, pinning him. Cal grunted sharply, looking up with wide eyes at the sight of Trilla standing over him.</p><p>Her eyes were different - glittering with loathing. They were gold, glowing in the poor light of the room. Around him, he felt the Force twisting and buckling under the weight of her emotions. It had been left to rot.</p><p>Cal rose and his eyes widened when he felt the Force reach down into him, yanking him from his feet. Trilla's hand held high, her lips pursed with a smirk. He was forced to drift toward her, higher into the air.</p><p>"This is your last chance, Cal Kestis," she whispered, tilting her head as she studied him with a grin, "Before you remain here with me in torment forever."</p><p>He was thrown viciously backwards, striking the wall. BD-1 had scattered from him before being crushed by the force. The droid pattered back to his side when he folded to the floor with a groan of pain.</p><p>His lightsaber clattered to the floor.</p><p>Trilla stalked toward them with a wide grin. "Is that all?"</p><p>Cal blinked, dazed as she watched her winking in and out of existence. A malicious chuckle, a mad look on her face.</p><p>It was like before; when he'd come here to find the holocron.</p><p>Only this time he was old. Tired.</p><p>Trilla stopped where his saber had fallen. She made a thoughtful note, bent down and retrieved it. Taking it in hand, she held it up for study before she smirked down at him, activating the blade.</p><p>"I wonder," she mused, "If I cut you down the same way, what do you plan on doing next?"</p><p>She let out a shout and swung the blade down, but Cal reached up with one hand, stopping her with the Force. She pursed her lips with effort and continued to push the blade harder, despite the strength resisting her.</p><p>But she was getting closer and closer; the blade was almost inches from his chest.</p><p>A comforting hand closed over Trilla's.</p><p>O</p><p>A horrified gasp escaped the spirit.</p><p>The lightsaber had stopped, singing the fabric of Cal's robes. He blinked, eyes wide when he noticed Cere was standing beside Trilla.</p><p>She was old; a withered woman that she used to be. Trilla hadn't moved from her position, staring at her in disbelief.</p><p>The sadness in her eyes, the apology ached. Trilla snarled at her, recoiling and dropping the lightsaber to the floor. Cal watched as they faced one another; two completely different energies churning together in the Force.</p><p>"Trilla," Cere said, gently. "Please. If you want to fight anyone, fight me. I was the one who left. I deserve it. He doesn't."</p><p>Trilla stared from Cal to her. The buckling pain in the Force dimished to an extent. Trilla only watched Cere in silence now. She seemed to calm, as she had before Vader and appeared and killed her.</p><p>"And I know that all you feel is rage and hate for me," Cere continued, "And if you want, we can fight each other until the suns die. But Cal? Cal tried. He really did. And he's here now because I wanted to keep that promise I made to you long ago."</p><p>Trilla frowned now, tilting her head. "Promise?"</p><p>"It's been long here, sitting in the dark," Cere smiled sorrowfully, "Your memories are vanishing, replaced with shadows and hate. But I promised you I'd make amends for what I did. I took everything from you. But we can move on. We can live."</p><p>Trilla stared at her, eyes darkening. "No. We don't have that choice. You took that from us."</p><p>"I did." Cere nodded with a tearful smile. "But we're here now. Let's move on."</p><p>She reached out with two hands. Trilla stared at them, then to Cal. She was silent, her expression devoid of any real feeling.</p><p>Then, a mixture of complicated emotions came and went like lightning. There was a softness there, an exhausted sigh through her nose.</p><p>She wanted to rest. She was tired.</p><p>Cere took a step toward her, putting her arms around Trilla in an embrace. The other woman didn't return it, but tears began to form. Her lips parted, eyelashes fluttering. She almost looked to be in pain.</p><p>Cal watched as Trilla quietly wept, but didn't hold Cere in return for the longest time.</p><p>Her hands eventually, albeit slowly, raised up. They hovered over Cere's back, trembling somewhat before she finally held her back.</p><p>"You've been here so long..." Cere's voice was breaking as she too started to cry.</p><p>"Yes..." Trilla said, softly.</p><p>O</p><p>The enormous furnace was alight with flame. Trilla and Cere stood near it as Cal tossed the former Inquisitor's saber into it. Then, the saber that connected Cere's spirit. Both of them looked at one another, then to him.</p><p>There was a calmness in the Force now. Trilla looked lighter for it. Cere looked happy. He was sad to see her go, but it had to be done.</p><p>"Thank you, Cal." she told him. "I don't know what would have happened without you."</p><p>Cal chuckled softly. BD-1 chirped up at the spirit and Cere smiled down at him.</p><p>"And you too, BD-1."</p><p>The droid beeped happily. Cere looked at Trilla and raised her eyebrows.</p><p>"Ready to go?" she asked.</p><p>Trilla nodded, her smile unsure, but happy either way.</p><p>"I am."</p><p>Cal backed up, watching as the spirits began to fade away while their weapons burned in the furnace. Cere gave him one final two-fingered salute and smiled before they were gone for good.</p><p>The warmth of the furnace, the Force fading from them brought on a sense of peace to the Jedi standing there. BD-1 watched the fire with him.</p><p>It had changed.</p><p>The weight had lifted with their souls.</p><p>They were free.</p>
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